Time is ticking
by Angel Pendragon
Summary: Much is plagued by nightmares and Robin knows the only way to save his men is to kill the sheriff,will he do it and how do the men cope with a new woman in the gang.. much's sister
1. Chapter 1

Time is ticking.

The sheriff stared angered out in to the town "HOOD" he screamed, his teeth bared and his eyes full of hate he ordered his guards to go after Robin and his outlaws, they had once again come to the rescue of another innocent person who had been sentenced to death purely to set an example, the sheriff did a lot of that and it really annoyed Robin.

He already had so many reasons to hate the sheriff and stupidly enough the sheriff just kept giving Hood more and more reasons.

Robin and John ran with their latest rescue in to the woods away from Nottingham, laughing and wooping along the way.

They had once again out smarted the sheriff and been brave enough to show up even though they all had a hefty price on their heads.

Deep down Robin just loved a chance to get one up on his enemy and he always did, that was the best thing about being in Hoods gang, at the end of a battle they were usually always the one's who came out on top with money, jewels and respect from those who they helped.

"Bless you Robin, you saved my life how will I ever repay you?" asked the villager who the gang had saved.

Robin just smiled at him with that charismatic cheeky smile that had the women of Locksley, Nettlestone and Knighton falling at his feet.

"Just keep your head down and believe in us" Robin replied as he handed the middle aged, scruffy man a couple of coins from a small brown bag.

The man took the coins and hugged Robin, he was more than grateful and would never forget the heroic act the man had done to save his life and now had given him money to provide for his small family, his wife and son could have food and a roof over their heads during the winter months thanks to Robin and the outlaws.

Robin turned to his men and bit his lip, Much knew that look, Robin was thinking.

But thinking what and why? They had already saved the man and dashed the sheriffs hopes of showing off his power for another day, couldn't they just go back to the camp and eat and sleep now.

It had been a long day and Much was exhausted, he hadn't got much sleep the night before, he had been kept awake by John's snoring and the constant hooting of a wayward owl stalking him from a tree over head.

"What are you thinking?" asked Tuck, his face as concerned as Much's.

Allan rolled his eyes as he noticed Robin "come on Robin, can't we just head back to camp?" he retorted as he leaned against a tree, his feet were aching and he was starving.

Robin sighed and wheeled on the spot "yes ok, let's go" he said as he signalled his men to follow him.

The journey back to the camp was full of witty comments, jokes about the sheriff and what was on the menu to eat.

"I know for a change let's have Rabbit" joked Allan, John smirked at the comment and turned his head to Robin, who was unknown to the other's plotting a plan to return to Nottingham and giving the sheriff a taste of his own medicine.

"Or we could catch some fish" said John as he tied some string to a tree branch he had found and was make shifting it into a fishing rod.

Much smiled, his eyes wide like a school boy, he loved fish and was secretly fed up of rabbit.

Robin agreed to John, Tuck and Allan catching some fish for dinner, whilst he and Much returned to the camp to light a fire and boil some water to make tea.

Robin had picked up a recipe for mint tea as a boy and would occasionally make it for his men as a treat, it also relaxed and aided sleep and sleep was something Much needed desperately.

Robin could begin to see the black lines under his loyal servants eyes, he knew he hadn't been sleeping well and even though Much said it was due to John's snoring, animals making noises or Allan talking in his sleep, Robin knew it was because he was having nightmares.

"Whey! We have lovely fish for dinner" cheered Allan as he came thundering through the forest into the camp.

He was closely followed by John who had three fish in his hand, Tuck had two and Allan was waving four in front of Much's face.

Much raised his hand and waved the fish away as if they were nuisance flies.

Allan raised his brow, well if Much wasn't going to eat fish for dinner he would.

Much climbed to his feet and dragged his weary body to his bed, a pile of blankets set on top of a pile of straw from a local farm.

He laid facing away from the outlaws and closed his eyes tightly, he could only sleep when the others were awake and on look out, that's the only time he felt safe.

He was too scared to go to sleep at night in case the sheriff found their camp and had them all slaughtered in their sleep, it would be quick and painless but not the way Much wanted to die.

Every time he closed his eyes he saw the sheriff's sick taunting smile and dark eyes staring at him, he had the same repeating nightmare every time he fell asleep.

He would wake to find Robin, Tuck, John and Allan hanging from tree's around the camp and the sheriff would be standing over him with a sword, just as he was about to plunge the sword into Much's chest he would wake up soaking wet and terrified.

As Much replayed the visions from his taunting nightmares over and over in his head tears began to stream down his face.

Much and the gang had been living in the forest for almost four years now and it was beginning to take it's toll on the servant, he missed his family and longed to have a family of his own, his own wife and children to protect instead of protecting other people's all the time.

Much jumped as he felt weight crash down beside him "hey" whispered Robin as he leaned closer to his friend.

Much didn't turn to see Robin, instead he continued to stare at the tree in front of him, anything so Robin could not see the tears that were streaming down his face.

"I'll save you some food, you sleep" Robin said softly as he pushed himself upwards on to his feet and moved away from Much, leaving him in peace to rest.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Aislaighn sat on the river bank waiting for her young man friend, he was late, he was always late, he would turn up sometimes hours late but he would always have some amazing excuse and he would always bring gifts.

Today was no different, he was late by almost two hours but Aislaighn sat and waited anyway, she would wait until it was dark and then return home if he had not turned up.

As she began to throw small stones in to the river she heard horse hooves close by, she froze, the sound of hooves usually meant guards, Gisbournes men or worse the sheriff, or maybe outlaws, no never lucky enough to meet outlaws she thought to herself.

Maybe one day she would have the luck of bumping into the outlaws of Sherwood forest, some excitement.

She listened as the hooves stopped and the sound of horses grazing drifted through the air before the soft thud of boots echoed towards her.

She clutched on to a dagger she kept at her side at all times, the footsteps grew closer, so close now she could almost feel the intruder, she could feel the eyes on her back and she could smell them, wait only one, the smell of pine lingered around her and she smiled.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up" she said sarcastically.

The young man faked a cough and tried to hide his smirk as Aislaighn turned to him, her long dark blonde hair blowing gently in the breeze, her pale blue eyes staring into him and the sweet smile on her face told him she was happy to see him, even if he was almost two hours late.

His dark eye's stared into her, she could defiantly feel the attraction between them but she wasn't going to allow herself to fall for him, falling in love was not in her plans and was not something she wanted to do, men are creatures that have you tearing your hair out with all their mixed signals and always wanting to champion another.

Her perfect example would be her brother and his best friend, they would always try to out do each other when it came to women and hunting, she was beginning to find using her brother as an example was becoming harder and harder, she had not seen him for almost ten years, she didn't even know if he was alive.

Last she had heard was he had gone to the holy land to fight along side King Richard for England.

"You know I always come" said the young man, his mysterious eyes making something yearn inside her.

"Always late" she whipped back, he smiled at her and she was won over, "what excuse do you have this day?" she asked as he took her by the hand and pulled her up from the river bank.

As he pulled her up she fell towards him and hit his chest, she felt her cheeks flushing and her heart began to thump like a silly school girl with a crush.

"I ran into some tax men on their way to Nottingham, I thought it would be rude if I didn't give them some of my time and help them with their tax collecting... I took their taxes" he grinned.

He handed Aislaighn a silver bracelet with a ruby encrusted in to it, she was more than you can say taken aback by the gift, this was the nicest most expensive gift he had ever brought her and she felt a little awkward accepting it from him, he gave her a sweet smile as he noticed.

"If you don't want it then you may give it to the village of Nettlestone, I'm sure they will make use of it" he said with a taint of hurt in his voice.

Aislaighn glanced up at him and saw that the hurt had spread to his face, he hardly ever showed emotion other than hate and anger but now he was showing hurt and it made her feel guilty.

"No I love it, it's just... you don't always have to bring me trinkets" she said softly to the young man.

"I know... but I want to" he replied, there was a silence that lasted longer than either had expected, the only sounds being those of the water running, babbling over rocks, a song thrush somewhere off in the distance singing it's sweet song and the horses grazing.

The young man reached his hand out to Aislaighn and tugged her playfully, she followed him behind the coverage of the tree's and was greeted by two dark, handsome bay horses with full tack and beautifully kept manes.

"I just found them roaming the forest" he said cheekily, when he said he found them roaming he meant he stole them, most likely from the tax men he had bumped in to.

That's why Aislaighn loved being around this man, he was a mystery but he was heart warming as well as criminally good looking.

She still didn't quite understand how or why he had decided to befriend her of all people in the village, but she was glad he did, she was glad Will Scarlet was her friend.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Much awoke to the sound of very cheery men, the outlaws had been drinking and they were very merry especially Allan who was up and dancing with a dress that the outlaws had somehow come to have in their possession, a green noble woman's dress with white lace on the cuffs.

Much observed the men for a wile before rubbing his eyes and getting out of bed.

"Ah sleeping beauty wakes" roared John as he knocked back more of the liquid he had managed to consume two bottles of already.

Allan stared at him, his bright eyes burning in to him then his lips cracked and a smirk erupted.

"You were having a seriously interesting dream young Much" gushed Allan "who's Aislaighn?" he questioned, his voice all inquisitive and burning for gossip.

"Nobody" Much snapped, he grabbed the plate of food Robin had saved for him and scoffed down the fish and bread before heading off in to the forest away from the camp to wash in a near by brook.

The ice cold water felt good on his face and soothed his tired, sore eyes, he had shed too many tears lately and it was beginning to show in his eyes, they were sore and red.

Much took a deep breath and let his head drop in to his hands, he had an over whelming feeling of anger, despair and fear in his heart, he longed to leave the forest and be a free man, not be an outlaw and not be afraid to fall asleep at night.

He shook his head as he heard his friends cheering and singing loudly from the camp, if only they knew what ran through his mind and what visions haunted his dreams, then maybe they too would be fearful of closing their eyes.

Much returned to the camp and set about sharpening his sword.

The outlaws all stared over at him, they knew something was wrong even Allan who was pie eyed and stinking drunk, he could barely stand up but he still managed to keep a still stare on Much.

"What?" Much snapped as the stares became too much for him to handle, he didn't want his friends staring at him like he was a freak.

Robin's face fell concerned, he knew Much was having problems, he knew he was having nightmares and he knew that there was nothing he or the others could do about it.

Much focused on the tip of the sword, tears stinging his eyes but he was damned if he would shed them again.

Suddenly a vision of a nightmare flashed in his head and he snapped, tears came rolling down his face and he began to sob.

Allan looked shocked and didn't know where to look, he breathed deeply and turned away from Much, seeing his friend beside himself like this made him feel worries of his own.

He too was beginning to fear the missions he and the gang did, he knew it was only time before their luck ran out and one of them were killed.

He knew what it was like to dangle from the end of a rope and he didn't wish to do it again any time soon if ever again.

Robin rushed over to Much and comforted his sobbing friend, he hurt when his best friend was hurting, he felt lost and useless, he could not help his friend stop the nightmares.

The only way this madness would stop would be when the sheriff was dead and Robin intended on killing him soon.

Non of the outlaws slept well that night, Allan kept throwing up due to his high consumption of cider, John and Robin were watching Much and Tuck spent most of his night praying.

Robin and his men set out to Nottingham at sun rise, he was going to kill the sheriff and Gisbourne if he had to, he wanted this all to stop, he wanted his men to feel safe enough to sleep and for the villages to not be submitted to ridiculous taxations and death purely to give the sheriff entertainment.

Robin knew his men had dreams and as long as the sheriff was alive non of them would be able to live them out.

Much wanted a wife and kids, he wanted his own house and land.

Allan wanted to be free to travel and maybe one day settle down and have a family, John wanted to return to his wife and son and Tuck wanted to find an abbey where he belonged.

Robin didn't quite know what he would do once the sheriff was dead and gone, he had lost Marion and he didn't know if he wanted to be Robin of Locksley any more.

Maybe he would leave and start life somewhere new.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"We must go to Locksley on our way to Nottingham, I wish to see my father" said Will as he and Aislaighn travelled on the outskirts of the forest.

Aislaighn was not sure if he was avoiding the forest on purpose or whether he was scared of the outlaws, there were only two of them and at least four outlaws from what she had heard.

"Ok, that's fine" she replied with a sweet smile, she was actually looking forwards to visiting Locksley, that was where the infamous Robin Hood lived and she wanted to see the place for herself, a little bit of history and sight seeing in one visit.

Also she wanted to meet Will's family, his father and brother, he never really spoke of his family, he kept a lot of things secret, he was the biggest mystery she had ever known.

The journey to Locksley was quicker than Aislaighn had thought it would be, all was not well or quiet though.

As she and Will arrived they saw a large group of guards and Gisbourne shouting and ordering people around.

Will saw his father being hit by a guard and he snapped, he grabbed his sword and ran in to the village and hit the guard with the butt of the sword making the man fall to the ground, that caused two other guards to set on to Will, one grabbed him as the other punched him in the stomach.

Aislaighn winced as she watched her friend being beaten, she could not take any more and was about to take her bow and launch an attack of arrows on the guards in an attempt to release Will.

She then heard a voice yell from the other side of the village and there was a sudden clanging of steel on steel as a group of men came running to the rescue.

She stared amazed for a few moments, watching the men as they ascended an assault on the guards.

Gisbourne came to help his men fight the outlaws and swung a low blow at Allan, he fell to the ground winded and unable to move.

Gisbourne then grabbed one of the men and held a knife to his throat, Aislaighn could only see the back of the tall Gisbourne but she knew she couldn't let such a ruthless man hurt these men especially after seeing his men's attack on Will's father and Will himself.

She aimed her bow and waited for a clear shot.

Gisbourne turned with his hostage and Aislaighn had a full on shot, she then noticed the man he had at knife point and she saw red.

She jumped off of her horse and ran over with her bow, she wanted a clear safe shot of this coward and she didn't want to hit the man he had, her brother, Much.

"Release him now" she yelled as she fired an arrow and it skimmed his head "next time I won't miss" she yelled again.

She stopped inches off of Gisbourne and held an arrow aimed at his chest "let him go now, or I swear to God I will kill you over and over again" she snarled.

Gisbourne sniggered at her, she dropped her bow and lunged at him, she punched his face forcing him to release Much.

Aislaighn drew her sword and was ready to plunge it into Gisbourne when she was grabbed from behind.

She struggled to get free but the person who had grabbed her kept a tight hold of her.

"Leave him, he's not worth it" barked Will as he gripped her tighter.

After a few moments he released her and she turned to the gang, their eyes were all on her, she didn't know whether they were shocked, amazed or annoyed at her.

Their faces all said something different, Much stared at her confused.

"Wow that's some pretty nifty arrow work" said Robin as he studied her.

"Wait a minute, what's Will doing here?" asked Allan as if he was the only person who had noticed young Scarlet.

Robin turned to Will and looked at him with a puzzled yet happy expression on his face.

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" Robin scoffed.

Aislaighn stared confused at them all, how did Will know these men and her brother?.

Much slowly came out of his daze and found his words which had been stuck in his throat.

"Aislaighn.... what are you doing with Will and how did you learn to fight like that?" he asked slowly still confused.

Allan's eyes bulged "oh... Aislaighn... I see" he said cheekily.

Much shook his head and hissed a sigh "no.. no you don't Allan" his eyes were deep and heavy, she didn't know if he was going to throttle her or hug her.

Aislighn and Much stared at each other for a minute or two in silence as the other's watched and tried to piece the puzzle together.

"Hang on Aislaighn as in little Laney" Robin quizzed sharply.

Aislaighn glanced at him confused, how did he know her?.

"Aisliaghn as in your sister?" Robin blurted making all the outlaws recoil in shock.

All apart from Will who placed his hand on her shoulder and whispered something into her ear making her smile


	2. My brother, he's not much

My brother, he's not much!

By now Gisbourne had scrambled to his feet and scurried off away from the outlaws, he had gone unnoticed which was a first for Robin and his men.

Gisbourne was more concerned about getting back to Nottingham and informing the sheriff of the new member of the gang, a woman and an outlaws sister.

He was sure they would have plenty of fun messing with her and using her to get to Hood and the gang.

The thought of Much having a sister seemed to shock the outlaws more than Much thought it would.

Of course he had a family, where did they think he had come from? Hatched out of a nest somewhere he thought to himself.

He was just like anybody else he had a mother, a father and a sibling.

His sibling just happened to be Aislaighn the mischievous tomboy who would run around with the boys play fighting with wooden swords and long bows made from tree branches and twine.

Now she was a pretty young woman, it had been almost ten years since he last saw her.

He had left to go work for the young Lord of Locksley as his servant, he needed a job and Robin needed a servant.

Aislaighn was a young child and needed her brother but she knew he had to go, he would send money every month for the family to use on food and clothing.

She didn't like the idea of losing her brother and it took some years to come to terms with it.

By the age of fourteen she was planning on running away and going to Locksley to find him but then learned he had gone to fight in the holy land along side King Richard in the crusades.

She spent every day living in terror, was he alive? Was he dead? How would she know?.

The only thing she did know was that if she ever met this Lord of Locksley who ever he was she would throttle him for taking her brother away from her.

She didn't care how powerful or rich he was, he stole Much, her brother, her family.

Will continued to whisper into her ear, making her smile.

"So this is the famous Robin Hood, Lord of Locksley" she retorted as she eyed the outlaw curiously.

Robin stared transfixed and amused at the young woman he had heard so many stories about, she was the only person Much spoke of when he was in the holy land.

But the girl Much described was not girl stood in front of them now.

This girl was the picture of mysterious beauty, pretty with soul baring eyes, feminine curves and long flowing hair.

Her skin was pure, clean and almost porcelain white and she wore a simple but pretty brown dress that hung off her shoulders.

Very different to the tomboy who played with wooden swords and wore her brothers handed down clothes.

"I guess throttling him isn't a good idea then" smirked the young woman.

Robin raised his brow in curiosity "why would you throttle me?" he asked.

Aislaighn pouted her rose lips, she didn't want to sound childish but no matter how much she tried to forget it she still had issues with Hood.

"You took my brother from me" she replied harshly with a tint of hurt in the voice.

Much's eyes glistened with unshod tears.

He wasn't used to being cared about or missed.

He was used to being a servant and an outlaw, he was used to going unnoticed and ignored.

There was a deathly silence amongst the outlaws and the young woman.

The members of Gisbourne's army who were not laid unconscious on the ground were escaping with the people of Locksley's money, the men slowly composed them selves and hurried to their horses and made an escape back to Nottingham.

"Not been funny but shouldn't we be going after them" whipped Allan as his eyes followed a short chubby guard who was scurrying towards his horse with a bag of coins jingling in his hand as he ran.

"No problem" whispered Aislaighn as she raised her bow and aimed it at the guard.

"No" shrieked Robin as he went to grab the arrow but she had already let it go.

The arrow went spinning towards the guard so fast that it was almost silent as it soared threw the air.

Robin winced as he saw the arrow hurdling in the direction of the guard.

The arrow hit the money bag, snatched it out of the guards hand and stuck to a tree, the guard fell over from shock and panic, in an attempt to avoid any stray arrows he scrambled on his belly until he was covered by the tree's and ran for his life.

Will laughed and winked at Robin as Robin saw the money bag pinned against the tree.

"I don't kill unless I have to" said Aislaighn sternly as she stared after the man with stone cold eyes.

With in seconds the pair understood each other, they were not that different, they would kill to protect those they love but not kill for the sheer hell of it.

Quickly the village became clear of Gisbourne's lot.

The gang watched patiently from behind a house as the guards ran like a pack of rats back to Nottingham, defeated for another day.

Aislaighn felt a sense of worth and being, she got an adrenaline rush from the fighting, she was beginning to envy her brother, this life was fantastic, fighting for justice, helping people and kicking some serious ass along the way.

The gang set about helping clear the village up, handing out money to the poor and tending to the wounded.

Will's father was amongst the injured, he had a bust lip from when the guard hit him.

Aislaighn watched intently as Will tended to his father, he was so compassionate and devoted, she had never seen him like this before but she liked it, the softer side of Will Scarlet was something she cherished.

She felt her heart skip a beat when he looked up and gave her a knowing sweet, seductive yet mysterious smile.

She caught herself staring at his ass as he bent over to clean the cloth he was using in a pale of clean water to clean his father's bloody face.

She let out an angered groan as she realised what she was doing"no, no, no don't be stupid" she scolded as she forced herself to look away.

She searched the surrounding area to find something to do, anything but stare hopelessly at Will's ass.

Because this was not her, she did not have these kind of feelings towards men, men were friends, allies and sometimes punch bags if they got on the wrong side of her.

The more she tried to fight the feelings the stronger they became.

As she searched for a distraction she saw Allan handing out coins to the villagers, he was the only person working alone.

Much was beside Robin helping fix doors and windows of houses that had been raided and Tuck was helping John and Will tend to the injured.

The more she watched Allan the more she saw the mystery surrounding him as well as the darkness he reflected in his eyes.

Aislaighn was usually a good judge of character and she knew when somebody was not quite right, when somebody was hiding something and Allan was defiantly hiding something.

Aislaighn decided to stroll over towards Allan and offer her help, she felt pretty useless just standing around watching and secretly she wanted to know what Allan was hiding.

"Hey" he greeted cheerfully as she stepped up in front of him.

He shot her a smirk as he secretly eyed her up, he was impressed she wasn't anything like Much, she was pretty and didn't seem to whine like Much did, she was handy with a bow and obviously didn't scare easily with the way she attacked Gisbourne.

He liked her, probably more than he should as she obviously had something going with Will but he couldn't help himself, he liked the idea of wanting the girl who was untouchable.

He liked Marian when she was alive, he knew both Robin and Gisbourne were in love with her but he still liked her, wanted her.... but due to the fact he cared more for his own life than a woman he didn't do anything about it.

This time however Aislaighn was only Much's sister and even if her and Will had something going it probably wouldn't last and maybe she would go for him.

Allan had plans and he secretly hoped he would be able to bring Aislaighn in on them before she became too good and obeyed Hoods every order.


End file.
